How the automobile is the safest place a person can be.


This movie is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives

Producer: Handy (Jam) Organization
Sponsor: Chevrolet Division, General Motors Corporation
Audio/Visual: Sd, B&W
Keywords: Safety: Automotive; Safety

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: JayKay49 - - December 29, 2012
Subject: Are They KIdding?
No seat belts; a metal dash with a bunch of knobs sticking out; that big hard steering wheel, and old timey brakes...those were death traps. People went flying through those windshields a lot, head first.

Gotta love that almost operatic, hollow, airy "oo" sound in "you" and "do" . Shows up a lot in J_H films of this era.

Anyone recognize that "boy scout" maneuver where the clown motions to the car in the driveway to proceed into the speeding traffic? Yikes!

Good footage of 30's models, some quite snazzy.

Reviewer: Anatoon - - December 19, 2009
Subject: The Safest Place
Frankly I do not understand all the criticism of these short safety films. To nit pick all the little things that you find wrong with it is very petty. I wonder if the people that engage in this also do this at home to their spouse? If so that must be a miserable household.
First you have to account that this is a short, they had to cram as much as they can into a small time frame. The had to get the message across and be entertaining.
Second, Brad Pitt and color TV had not yet been invented. If you can't handle not having these modern touches the don't waste your time on old films of any kind.
Personally I enjoy old films like these. Since the acting isn't what we'd see in Cinematic today it actually makes it more real and life like. The majority of us are not actors.
The history lessons are valuable too. We're constantly told that newer cars are safer than the old ones, that the old ones were not designed with safety in mind. We see here that is not proof, there has always been safety in mind when designing the automobile.
And then just the treat of seeing the cities, the streets, and the cars of the 1930s in an unstaged action is a pleasure brought to us unintentionally.
The in-car and side of car shots are very well done too, which couldn't have been easy with the film technology of 1935.

Reviewer: orbit9090 - - December 13, 2007
Subject: Important driving rule missed.
In my opinion:
This early video is a good example of the automobile industries long-standing attempt to shift automobile safety short-comings onto customers. Common sense tips will not prevent true 'accidents'.

An important rule of driving is: Drive so as To Not Personally Cause Others To Have To Brake.

This rule was broken in the video, as the 'courteous' driver near the video's end is actually being DIS-courteous to any cars BEHIND him, and he my find that he gets himself rear-ended if any cars behind him do not slam on their brakes. It's simply dangerous to suddenly come to a halt in the middle of the road, especially just to let someone out of a cross street. This disrupts the proper flow of traffic and also blocks the view of the driver pulling out. Not so safe.

Reviewer: GE_Pretzel - - January 13, 2006
Subject: Forgettable, but still somewhat funny
This brief, rudimentary promotional film from Chevrolet contends that its automobiles offer safety for its drivers and passengers, provided that everyone on the road is practicing proper driving habits. Although the suggestion that the automobile is a "living room on wheels" may be questionable to those who dislike the confines of the vehicle, the film does accomplish its purpose of highlighting some of the most important elements of careful driving. It also reveals to viewers the potential dangers posed by misplaced bars of soap.

Reviewer: Karma Hawk - - March 29, 2005
Subject: A flawed message....but that's why we love it.
This is a promotional film by Chevorlet advertising thier new models as "The safest place you can be." However they really don't follow through on that as they then give you a bunch of driving tips to help you be a safe driver. The film also ends with a card telling people to get thier car checked every couple of years, which doesn't really help to bring the point home. The film starts out with a guy at home. singing in a bathtub and almost tripping on soap he then fixes a crooked picture on the wall and almost falls down, the point of this seems to be that your house is trying to kill you. The film then reinforces this mesage by telling you various places that are safer than the home. The films message is indeed very flawed. but come on isn't this what we look for in films of this nature?

Reviewer: Spuzz - - June 20, 2004
Subject: Soap dropping Alert!
In a film that must've been concieved seconds after 'Safe Roads' wrapped production, the film opens up with a ship bobbing up and down in the ocean, with a sea-fairing song unfamiliar to me. It then dissolves into a man singing that song while in the tub. He drops the soap on the floor, which he doesnt notice, and steps out of the tub, still singing, but just narrowly missing the soap. He then, still singing, goes down the stairs, narrowly missing toys on the stairs, and uses a broken stepladder, missing the broken steps. THEN we go to the focus of the film, that you're more safer in your car then at home. While it's good to know this, and that IS probably true, watching the traffic scenes in this gave me a sense of alarm with all the cars weaving in and out, just giving me the jitters of driving in 1935.

Shotlist

"BECAUSE OF PROGRESS IN ENGINEERING AND MATERIALS, THE SAFEST PLACE A PERSON CAN BE IS IN HIS AUTOMOBILE AS THIS PICTURE PROVES, WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON BRAKES & BODY CONSTRUCTION."

Ken Smith sez: Where is the safest place in a Jam Handy film? In a Chevrolet, of course. This film contrasts the hazards of home life with the safety of the 1935 Chevrolet. "Your living room on wheels" is shown driving itself around, as the narrator explains that if an invention could be made allowing a car to drive itself, we'd all be a lot better off. Bizarre.

Danger LurksCHEVROLET AUTOMOBILES ADVERTISING TRANSPORTATION HEALTH AND SAFETY DRIVING ASSEMBLY ENGINEERING MATERIALS BODIES BRAKES ROADS HIGHWAYS STREETS RUNNING SHOTS DRIVERS PASSENGERS Safety Safety education Automobiles (Chevrolet) Sailboats Boats (sail) Sailing Waves Accidents (simulated) Bathtubs Bathing Soap Driving
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